GIA resource documents

A collection of links to GIA papers

SAS/GIS — by GIA Help — last modified October 19, 2007 01:39 PM

(GIS_RD_02-44) Brief overview of the SAS GIS product

Introduction to ArcGIS — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:39 AM

(GIS_RD_02-12) ArcGIS is a comprehensive, integrated, scalable system designed to meet the needs of a wide range of Geographic Information System users.

ArcGIS Spatial Analyst — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:40 AM

(GIS_RD_02-18) This document provides a brief overview of ArcGIS Spatial Analyst, an extension to ArcGIS 8.x for spatial modeling and analysis.

Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:42 AM

(GIS_RD_02-01) This document provides a brief overview of geographic information systems (GIS) and selected information regarding GIS activities at Penn State.

Introduction to ArcCatalog — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:47 AM

(GIS_RD_02-14) In ArcCatalog, you can browse, find, preview (data or attributes), organize, distribute, manage and document your GIS data.

ArcGIS Geostatistical Analyst — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:48 AM

(GIS_RD_02-19) This document provides a brief overview of ArcGIS Geostatistical Analyst, an extension for advanced surface modeling using deterministic and geostatistical methods.

Introduction to ArcGIS 3D Analyst — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:48 AM

(GIS-RD-02-20) ESRI’s 3D Analyst is a three-dimensional visualization and analysis extension to ArcGIS.

Introduction to ArcIMS — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:52 AM

(GIS_RD_02-16) ArcIMS is an Internet based server and client software suite for the distribution and manipulation of mapping and geographic information data.

Introduction to ArcMap — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:49 AM

(GIS_RD_02-13) ArcMap is the application you use to view and edit geographic data, query spatial data to find and understand relationships among geographic features, and create professionalquality maps, graphs, and reports.

Introduction to ArcGIS ArcToolbox — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:50 AM

(GIS_RD_02-15) ArcToolbox gives access to advanced geoprocessing tools, data conversion tools, and much of the ArcInfo functions.

CrimeStat — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:42 AM

(GIS_RD_02-22) CrimeStat is a spatial statistics package for the analysis of point data such as crime incidents.

CSISS Spatial Analysis Tools — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:42 AM

(GIS_RD_05-67) The Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science (CSISS) programs focus on the methods, tools, techniques, software, data access, and other services needed to promote and facilitate a novel and integrating approach to the social sciences.

DIVA-GIS — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:42 AM

(GIS_RD_02-27) A Geographical Information System for the Analysis of Biodiversity Data

Introduction to Dynamic Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis using DynESDA — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:42 AM

(GIS-RD-02-10) DynESDA is an extension program for Arcview 3.x developed by Anselin and Smirnov (1999): see www.spacestat.com.

Using DynESDA for Moran and Local Moran Plots — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:42 AM

(GIS-RD-02-11) DynESDA is an extension program for Arcview 3.x developed by Anselin and Smirnov (1999): see www.spacestat.com.

Idrisi — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:42 AM

(GIS_RD_02-33) Idrisi32 focuses primarily on the analysis of raster data such as remotely sensed data.

PopMap — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:42 AM

(GIS_RD_02-28) PopMap is an integrated, easy-to-use software package for developing a geographical information database of population related data.

Enterprise Guide and Mapping in SAS — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:42 AM

(GIS_RD_02-34) This document describes how to create a map to present results from within the SAS environment.

SpaceStat — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:42 AM

(GIS_RD_02-21) SpaceStat provides many functions for spatial analysis.

ArcGIS - Buffering — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:50 AM

(GIS_RD_02-50) Creating a “buffer” around a given point, line, or area allows researchers to identify what might be affected by an event or activity.

ArcGIS – Building geodatabases — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:51 AM

(GIS_RD_02-40) The geodatabase is a new data storage format introduced with the release of ArcGIS.

Conversion of Raster Images into Shapefiles using ArcScan — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:51 AM

(GIS_RD_06-77) ArcScan extension is primarily used to convert raster images into vector-based feature layers.

ArcGIS – Editing Features and Attributes — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:52 AM

(GIS_RD_02-38) Using an ArcView license, you can edit new or existing shapefiles, personal geodatabases or tabular data via the Editor Toolbar.

Geocoding — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:53 AM

(GIS_RD_02-17) According to the ArcGIS 9.1 Help Manual, geocoding is the “process of creating geometric representations for descriptions of locations.” In simpler terms, geocoding provides a spatial reference to data that does not have one. It is also commonly referred to as “address matching.”

Creating GIS Data — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:53 AM

(GIS_RD_02-37) This resource document will briefly outline several of the most common methods used to capture or create GIS vector and raster data.

ArcGIS – Joining and Relating Tables — by GIA Help — last modified April 18, 2007 10:53 AM

(GIS_RD_02-36) In ArcGIS there are generally two types of tables: those associated with spatial data, such as a feature attribute table, and stand-alone tables that have no tie to map features (e.g., non-spatial statistical data).

Census CD + Maps — by GIA Help — last modified April 19, 2007 10:32 AM

(GIS_RD_02-24) The Census CD + Maps makes available an impressive array of both a.) Geographic boundary data, and b.) Demographic data.

Census 2000 Data and Software — by GIA Help — last modified April 19, 2007 10:32 AM

(GIS_RD_02-35) The Census 2000 data has been made available for SF1, SF2 and SF3 for all states and geographies.

Public and Private School Data from NCES — by GIA Help — last modified April 19, 2007 10:32 AM

(GIS_RD_02-47) Common Core of Data & Private School Universe Survey

Street CD and Street databases — by GIA Help — last modified April 19, 2007 10:32 AM

(GIS_RD_02-23) This document provides a brief overview of Geolytics StreetCD

International Databases — by GIA Help — last modified April 19, 2007 10:32 AM

(GIS_RD_02-25) This document provides information on the availability of selected international databases.

Africa Data Dissemination Service — by GIA Help — last modified April 19, 2007 10:32 AM

(GIS_RD_02-42) The Africa Data Dissemination Service (ADDS) (http://edcw2ks21.cr.usgs.gov/adds/index.php) contains databases particularly related to problems of the food supply system for Africa.

Digital Chart of the World (DCW) — by GIA Help — last modified April 19, 2007 10:32 AM

(GIS_RD_02-26) The Digital Chart of the World is a comprehensive 1:1,000,000 scale vector basemap of the world.

Cartograms — by GIA Help — last modified April 19, 2007 10:40 AM

(GIS_RD_05-61) A cartogram is a thematic map (see GIS_RD_05-70) that distorts the areas of spatial features in proportion to the value of an attribute, such as population.

Choropleth Map — by GIA Help — last modified April 19, 2007 10:40 AM

(GIS_RD_05-72) Choropleth maps are a type of thematic map in which areas are colored or shaded to reflect the value of the mapped phenomenon or to display classes of values.

Color Selection — by GIA Help — last modified April 19, 2007 10:40 AM

(GIS_RD_02-45) When selecting a color scheme for a map, a number of factors should be taken into account.

Map Projections — by GIA Help — last modified April 19, 2007 10:40 AM

(GIS_RD_03-56) The map projection is a common tool used by cartographers to represent the rounded surface of the earth in two-dimensional maps.

Thematic Mapping — by GIA Help — last modified April 19, 2007 10:40 AM

(GIS_RD_05-70) Thematic maps are tools that researchers may use to represent how a set of attribute data is distributed spatially.